Apparatus for casting molten metal



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A. HETHEY APPARATUS FOR CASTING MOLTEN mam.

April 26, 1955 Filed larch 7, 1951 Inventor AXEL. HETHE! LEM Attorney P 1955 A. HETHEY APPARATUS FOR CASTING MOLTEN METAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 7, 1951 AXEL HETHEY ML Attorney United States Patent APPARATUS FOR CASTING MOLTEN METAL Axel Hethey, Dalkey, Eire Application March 7, 1951, Serial No. 214,268

Claims priority, application Great Britain March 10, 1950 4 Claims. (Cl. 22146) The present invention relates to a means of casting metal into ingots and although not exclusively limited thereto, is of a particular advantage for casting steel ingots.

One object of the invention is to enable the rate of cooling of the metal poured into the mould to be controlled more closely than has been the case hitherto. Another object is to provide a way by which the poured metal may be allowed to cool in any desired atmosphere. Other objects are to increase the life of the moulds, to reduce surface defects of the ingot and moulds caused by splashing of the metal during pouring and to increase the speed of casting and the number of ingots which can be cast from one ladle charge.

The basic idea underlying the invention is to pour the metal to be cast into a mould which is split into a plurality of parts which, with the aid of a manipulator, are clamped together while the metal is poured, are moved away from the metal as soon as it has cooled sufiiciently to become self-supporting, so that the major part of the cooling process occurs with the ingot displaced from the mould-parts and opening the mould-parts at the end of the cooling process so that the ingot can be extracted.

Another object is to produce a novel manipulator for carrying out this process and one of its advantages is that the same will handle mould-parts of a variety of sizes, both as to length and diameter, with the result that ingots of several shapes and sizes can be cast with the aid of the one manipulator.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent, to those skilled in the art, and, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a plan, front elevation and side elevation of a form of casting apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawings, there isshown a double mould consisting of two similar parts 42 and 42a, which stand upright on a base 43. The base is formed with a central aperture 44 in which is located a tube 45 and a stool 46. Each mould-part is formed with a pair of elongated lugs 47 and 48 or 47a and 48a. The lugs can be removably engaged by eight jaws of which seven can be seen in the figures at 49, 50, 49a, 50a (the upper jaws) and 49c, 49d and 50d (lower jaws). These eight jaws are articulated on four quadrants 51, 52, 51a and 52a respectively and all of which can roll on the base 43.

The quadrant 51 carries two integral brackets such as 53, the quadrant 52 carries integrally two brackets such as 55 whilst the quadrants 51a and 52a carry brackets 53a, 54a and 55a and 56a respectively. These four brackets are pivotally mounted on vertical shafts 57 and 57a in the manner shown. With this arrangement the eight jaws such as 49 can be pivoted about one or other of the shafts 57 and 57a, in order to accommodate moulds of different sizes.

On the vertical shafts 57 and 57a are fitted sleeves 58 and 58a respectively through which pass pins 59 and 59a on which are articulated a pair of links 60, 61 and 60a, 61a in turn pivoted at 62 and 62a on levers 63 and 63a. These levers are pivoted 0n the base 43 at 64 and 64a.

The two levers 63 and 6311 on the left and right hand side of Figure 2 are connected by two rods 65 and 66 and a cross link 67. The rod 65 is pivoted on lever 63 at 68 whilst the rod 66 is pivoted on the right hand lever 63a at 69.

At the bottom of each mould is placed the upwardly convex stool 46 in which fits an anti-splash cap 70.

This apparatus is used in the following way:

Steel or other metal is poured into the two mould openings in such a way that the streams of metal strike the stools 70 and are thereby prevented from splashing against the Walls of the mould-parts.

As soon as the metal is self-supporting each pair of quadrants 51, 52 and 51a, 52a, is squeezed together at its outer end, either by hand or mechanically, with the result that, on the left-hand side for example, both the upper pair of jaws 49 and 50 and the lower pair such as 49d move apart and to the left, by a small extent, as these two pairs of jaws pivot on the vertical shaft 57.

In this way the two mould-parts 42 and 42a are moved apart, with parallel motion, by a small distance so as to leave a clearance between the ingot and mould of say, a quarter of an inch.

When the ingots have cooled adequately, one or other of the levers 63 and 63a, either will do, is pulled outwardly to open the moulds sufficiently to allow the ingots to be craned away.

If it be the lever 63a which is pulled, then the links 60a and 61a, operating through the sleeve 58a, cause the quadrants 51a and 52a to roll to the right on the base 43, so that the mould-part 42a is pulled right away from the ingot.

At the same time the rod 66, which is also pulled to the right, operates through the cross link 67 and rod 65, to rotate the left-hand lever 63 in an anti-clockwise direction with the result that the left hand mould-part 42 is also moved away from the ingot. The latter can then be craned away to its hot-bed or ingot car.

The tube 45 seated in the hole 44 in the base 43 serves the purpose of preventing hot metal from damaging the base. In this tube is seated the stool 46 which is formed with one or more passages such as 71. The stool is itself formed with a central bore in which seats a shank 72 of the cap 70, so that the cap is centralised with respect both to the stool and the mould.

Air, nitrogen, hydrogen, hot gases or any other controlling atmosphere may be admitted to the gap between ghfie ingot and mould through the passage 71 in the stool At 73 are shown handles with which the apparatus may be lifted.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for casting metal into ingots, including a horizontal base, a multi-part longitudinally split mould standing on the base, fixed on each mould-part a horizontal lug of inverted U-section, removably engageable with each lug a pair of holders which are articulated together about a vertical axis and each of which is formed with a curved surface rolling on the base, articulated on each holder a pair of jaws engageable in the lug, means for pivoting the holders about the said vertical axis, and means for rolling the holders on their curved faces towards and away from each other so as to open and close the moulds.

2. Apparatus for casting metal into ingots comprising a horizontal base, a pair of mould parts on said base, elongate lugs arranged in pairs on said mould parts including a lug adjacent each end of each mould part, jaws engageable with said lugs respectively, a pair of laterally spaced quadrants articulated to the jaws engageable with each pair of lugs, each quadrant being rockable on said base, bracket means on each quadrant and extending toward the adjacent companion quadrant for the respective mould part, a common pivot shaft for each pair of brackets, a lever pivoted to said base for actuating each mould part, and an operative connection between each lever and the adjacent pivot shaft.

3. Apparatus for casting metal into ingots comprising a horizontal base, a pair of mould parts on said base, elongate lugs arranged in pairs on said mould parts including a lug adjacent each end of each mould part, jaws engageable with said lugs respectively, a pair of laterally spaced quadrants articulated to the jaws engageable with each pair of lugs, each quadrant being rockable on said base, bracket means on each quadrant and extending toward the adjacent companion quadrant for the respective mould part, a common pivot shaft for each pair of brackets, lever means individual to each mould part for actuating same, an operative connection between each lever means and one of said pivot shafts, and means providing an operative connection between said lever means for effecting conjoint action thereof.

4. Apparatus for casting metal into ingots comprising a horizontal base, a pair of mould parts on said base, elongate lugs arranged in pairs on said mould parts including a lug adjacent each end of each mould part, jaws engageable with said lugs respectively, a pair of laterally spaced quadrants articulated to the jaws engageable with each pair of lugs, each quadrant being rockable on said base, bracket means on each quadrant and extending toward the adjacent companion quadrant for the respective mould part, a common pivot shaft for each pair of brackets, a sleeve on each shaft, a transverse pin through each sleeve, oppositely disposed operating levers for said mould parts respectively and pivotally connected on said base, link means connecting each sleeve to an adjacent lever, a horizontally shiftable cross link beneath said base, and links connecting the ends of said cross link to said levers respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 257,307 Fitzsimons May 2, 1882 318,206 Reese May 19, 1885 354,743 Sabold Dec. 21, 1886 387,764 Butz Aug. 14, 1888 933,658 Morie et al. Sept. 7, 1909 937,477 Shonberg Oct. 19, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS 18,167 Great Britain of 1913 

1. APPARATUS FOR CASTING METAL INTO INGOTS, INCLUDING A HORIZONTAL BASE, A MULTI-PART LONGITUDINALLY SPILT MOULD STANDING ON THE BASE, FIXED ON EACH MOULD-PART A HORIZONTAL LUG OF INVERTED U-SECTION, REMOVABLY ENGAGEABLE WITH EACH LUG A PAIR OF HOLDERS WHICH ARE ARTICULATED TOGETHER ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND EACH OF WHICH IS FORMED WITH A CURVED SUFACE ROLLING ON THE BASE, ARTICULATED ON EACH HOLDER A PAIR OF JAWS ENGAGEABLE IN THE LUG, MEANS FOR PIVOTING THE HOLDERS ABOUT THE SAID VERTICAL AXIS, AND MEANS FOR ROLLING THE HOLDERS ON THEIR CURVED FACES TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER SO AS TO OPEN AND CLOSE THE MOULDS. 